DOD, GAO differ on measuring the workforce

Defense Department officials and analysts at the Government Accountability Office disagree on which set of metrics will yield the best perspective of what’s happening with the department's acquisition workforce, according to a new report.

DOD officials track the number of civilian and military personnel who handle acquisition work and the number of people the department adds as a result of insourcing federal work from businesses.

They also check on annual increases in the percent of acquisition staff members with levels II and III certification requirements. Finally, they seek to exceed benchmarks in government and industry for the average number of training courses offered in the classroom and online and the average number of follow-up surveys received to measure courses' usefulness.

GAO said those measurements were worthwhile, but they don’t offer information on productivity. DOD’s existing metrics don't show the outcome in terms of employees’ proficiencies or capabilities.